The problem:When you boot the laptop with the screen closed the machine fires up the POST on the DVI screen fine. You then change to the BitLocker login screen which also works ok. The windows startup logo follows this, again ok. But when you get to the windows Ctrl+Alt+Del prompt the screen goes into sleep mode. You don't even get to see the login prompt, it just jumps from the boot logo to a black screen.

At this point if you open the laptop screen, the login prompt appears on both the internal screen and the attached DVI screen in "clone" mode.

This is an issue for us because we use the E-Port monitor stand on our machines which means we cannot open the laptops screen.

This problem seems to only be apparent when BitLocker is installed. We have an identical setup (built from the same image) that works fine without BitLocker, and as soon as we install BitLocker, the problem comes back.

The problem also only seems to be apparent if you use DVI, or Display Port. If you change over to VGA the problem goes away.

If you run both DVI and VGA at the same time, the DVI is detected as the primary screen. So the POST, Bitlocker login, and windows boot logo all appear on that screen. When you get to the Ctrl+Alt+Del prompt the VGA screen wakes up, but is blank. The DVI screen still goes to sleep.

Some research seems to suggest that if you have the nVidia graphics card installed, the machine only uses DVI with the nVidia card. So if you have power saving features enabled, and the machine "power saves" to the Intel card during boot, you wont have DVI output until windows enables the nVidia card. This should not be the case in this instance as we only have the Intel GFX option.

I know BitLocker being the cause seems to be a very odd issue, but it is the only thing we change. I am stuck and this is quite a big problem for our new laptop rollout.

We're using the same models although i7's not i5's and Bitlocker, but not with the login, just the TPM integration. No such problems for us.It sounds like your display settings are wrong if they're coming up in clone mode and not defaulting to the external display.

Does the problem happen if you use an HDMI conneciton (probably need to be out of the dock to test this)?Are you on the latest BIOS rev for both models?Are you stuck using the Bitlocker login?Also, are you using the larger AC adapters with the dock? The smaller wattages ones usually aren't sufficient to properly power the dock.

So there have been some updates, but I will answer your questions first:

HDMI: cant try this. we dont have any mini-hdmi cables.BIOS: I wasnt, i have just updated to A12 on the E6320, which made things... different... see below.Bitlocker: yes, company policy.A/C: yes, big block power. 6.7amp not the 4.6amp "portable" one.

So the update...

I noted that the BIOS wasnt the most recent version (it was up until the 12th, when a new version was posted by dell).

I downloaded and flashed the BIOS on the bitlockered machine. Powered everything down, powered it back on, and nothing. No display at all.

So at this point I am panicking that I have bricked the machine. So i undock it and power it up stand alone, and it fires up to the bitlocker prompt as expected using the onboard screen.

Further to tests 8,9, and 10, i tried a hunch and removed the video cable and replaced it. At this point the machine auto-detected the screen and enabled it (regardless of the interface).

Lastly, its worth noting that once you get to the windows login prompt now, the DVI / Display port screen becomes primary, and VGA becomes secondary as expected.

From past experience with the D series and earlier E series machines, the expected result would be that DP or DVI would always light up if it recieves a signal and become the primary monitor. Both in BIOS and the OS.

It seems that with this latest batch of machines or latest BIOS Dell have taken a step back and made VGA / internal the primary screen.

Am I the only one who thinks this is odd, and not expected behaviour at all?

All of my E6420 and E6220 laptops show blank external screens until the Windows logon stage. They always have from the A00 (launch) BIOS, right up to the current... A08? It's annoying as all hell, especially for users I've given the E-Dock LCD stands to, as I have to train them to accept the lack of any video for a minute or so while the machine boots up. It also means I can't use a simple dock and external LCD at my diagnostic station, but rather have to work off the internal LCD.

Like I said, annoying as all hell, and my older machines (a fleet of D830s and handful of E6410s) don't have this behavior. I hope it goes away with IVB-based (presumably) E6430s.

I've never bothered, because I assume that it's unresolvable; just how this particular generation handles the internal/external video handover. I tend to get new models in within days of them being released to the general public, so the best I can say is that it'll be one of the first things I test on the Ivy Bridge-based machines.

Huh, well that brings a potential for resolution, at least. Given that it's also been a bug in the A00, A03, A04, A05, and A08 BIOSes, maybe nobody has actually complained until now.

On the other hand, they sure have released a ton of BIOS updates for this platform. They're not fully cumulative, either, which is a giant pain in the ass. Launch or near-launch machines that I come across have to be flashed to A05, reboot, flash to A08, reboot, and flash to A12.

On the other hand, they sure have released a ton of BIOS updates for this platform. They're not fully cumulative, either, which is a giant pain in the ass. Launch or near-launch machines that I come across have to be flashed to A05, reboot, flash to A08, reboot, and flash to A12.

At least its not an E6400, I think the newest version BIOS for that is A32...

And in terms of non cumulative updates nothing is more enraging that adobe acrobat 8. I had to deal with that a few weeks ago the upgrade path is:

Acrobat 9's worse. Current count is 12 patches (~1.3GB) for the 333MB installation source.Until 10, Adobe's idea of cumulative meant the latest quareterly patch had all the patches released since the last quarterly, rather than actually having all the previous patches in one.

Anyway, that display issue is nuts, and I will try to test some of those scenarios when I can. It's something my users would have bitched loudly about by now if it was happening to us.

I'm also going to check the BIOS settings for the displays, as there may be something there as well.

That's possible. All of my machines have the dual Intel/nVidia video option, too, which might be part of the situation.

Now that I think of it, I've never been able to make one of our E6420 laptops display video via external ports at all unless the nVidia video driver is installed, even in situations where it should be sleeping and the Intel graphics running the show.

On the other hand, they sure have released a ton of BIOS updates for this platform. They're not fully cumulative, either, which is a giant pain in the ass. Launch or near-launch machines that I come across have to be flashed to A05, reboot, flash to A08, reboot, and flash to A12.

At least its not an E6400, I think the newest version BIOS for that is A32...

And in terms of non cumulative updates nothing is more enraging that adobe acrobat 8. I had to deal with that a few weeks ago the upgrade path is: